True Wealth Ventures, led by seasoned entrepreneurs and investors Sara Brand and Kerry Rupp, today announced the close of the firm’s first fund, with $19.1 million in committed capital. The firm will use dollars raised to invest in women-led, sustainable consumer and consumer health technology companies in the next several years in the Texas area and greater U.S.. In addition to its gender impact investment strategy, over 80% of True Wealth Ventures limited partners are women.

The number of women-owned businesses in the U.S. rose by 68 percent over the past two decades. That’s double the growth rate of businesses started by men. Yet data shows that in 2017, just 2.2% of all venture capital in the US went to companies founded by women. In seeing the untapped financial opportunity for investments in women-led companies along with more women entrepreneurs focused on solving environmental and human health issues, True Wealth Ventures will leverage their newest fund to select approximately 12 companies and scale these businesses.

“We’ve seen the statistics: companies led by women show consistently higher performance. Continuing to look away from this massive investment opportunity doesn’t make business or economic sense,” said General Partner and MBA Harvard Business School graduate Kerry Rupp. “With women making 85% of consumer purchase decisions and 80% of healthcare decisions, there’s an additional advantage for companies with women on the management team in designing products for, selling to and servicing this customer base.”

The firm’s initial investments include UnaliWear, a smart watch for the senior population to guard against falls and other risks, and BrainCheck, a startup that exists as a cognitive testing platform to manage mental health.

“When I started True Wealth Ventures, I saw women-led businesses as an extraordinary investment opportunity that had yet to be realized,” said Founding General Partner and Ph.D. Sara Brand. “As there are no other early-stage funds targeting this market in the central/southern part of the U.S., Texas was a natural choice for this blind spot with Austin as an active startup hub and with market affinity for the target verticals.”

This year, True Wealth Ventures will additionally launch the first annual True Wealth Ventures Startup Pitch Session during SXSW Interactive in Austin. The firm encourages applications from companies and organizations that are addressing problems, gaps and issues in the sustainable consumer and consumer health and wellness verticals. Companies interested in applying should have at least one woman of significant decision-making authority and with significant ownership on the founding and/or executive team. For more information and to apply, visit http://truewealthvc.com/startup-pitch/.

About True Wealth Ventures

True Wealth Ventures is an early-stage, Austin-based venture fund investing in women with ideas to change the world through innovative solutions in the sustainable consumer and consumer health sectors. Companies founded by women have consistently demonstrated stronger returns than the market but are still under-represented as a share of VC investments, and female founders are uniquely positioned to craft consumer solutions, given that women make 85% of all household purchasing and 80% of healthcare decisions. True Wealth Ventures is one of a very small number of women-led early-stage VC funds in the country that is also focused on gender diverse teams, and the only one based in Texas. True Wealth Ventures Fund is a certified impact fund through the Global Impact Investing Network, or The GIIN. For more information, visit http://www.truewealthvc.com.